William Randolph Hearst died at the age of 88 in Beverly Hills, California on August 14, 1951, leaving behind a huge legacy. Today, the Hearst Corporation owns 12 newspaper and 25 magazines (including the popular Cosmopolitan), besides managing other media enterprises. Hearst's opulent 90,000 square foot castle at San Simeon, California is a landmark, and Orson Welles' classic film Citizen Kane is thought to have been based upon his life. While his name is foreign to those who do not know much about the history of journalism, and infamous to many of those who do, even in death William Randolph Hearst's legacy remains that of all that he ever claimed to be - an astoundingly good businessman and wonderfully successful politician. His mansion in Manalapan near the Boynton Beach inlet met a tough fate.
It’s the end of the line for Veronica Hearst’s ownership of her 28,000-square-foot Villa Venezia mansion on 3.77 acres in Manalapan, Fla., which sold at a foreclosure auction in Florida in Febreary 2008 for $22 million. The Dutch-born socialite had purchased the 52-room oceanfront estate, at 1100 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan/Lantana in 2000 for $29,870,807, according to public records.
After a period of prolific spending by Hearst, however, the mansion found itself headed toward foreclosure. In recent months, Hearst had found a way to restructure her borrowings to forestall foreclosure of the home.
The buyer was the plaintiff in the foreclosure action—a lender that had loaned more than $40 million to Hearst. Built in 1930 (according to news accounts) or 1929 (according to public records) for the great-grandson of rail baron Cornelius Vanderbilt, Villa Venezia had been listed by Hearst last year for $27 million.
It’s the end of the line for Veronica Hearst’s ownership of her 28,000-square-foot Villa Venezia mansion on 3.77 acres in Manalapan, Fla., which sold at a foreclosure auction in Florida in Febreary 2008 for $22 million. The Dutch-born socialite had purchased the 52-room oceanfront estate, at 1100 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan/Lantana in 2000 for $29,870,807, according to public records.
After a period of prolific spending by Hearst, however, the mansion found itself headed toward foreclosure. In recent months, Hearst had found a way to restructure her borrowings to forestall foreclosure of the home.
The buyer was the plaintiff in the foreclosure action—a lender that had loaned more than $40 million to Hearst. Built in 1930 (according to news accounts) or 1929 (according to public records) for the great-grandson of rail baron Cornelius Vanderbilt, Villa Venezia had been listed by Hearst last year for $27 million.
